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Ukrainian leader will meet Obama in U.S.

Getty Images - Worshippers receive Holy Communion during Mass on Sunday, March 9, 2014, in The Ukrainian Cathedral of the Holy Family in Exile, part of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, in London. The Russian military and allied militias have assumed control of Crimea, an autonomous region within Ukraine, in advance of a referendum to decide its nationality, which was called by the Crimean Parliament and which the government in Kiev regards as illegal.

AP - Protesters wave Russian flags from a statue of Soviet revolutionary Vladimir Lenin during a pro-Russian rally on Sunday, March 9, 2014, in Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.

AFP/Getty Images - Messages of peace decorate the ground on Sunday, March, 9, 2014, in Independence Square in central Kiev. Thousands of citizens demonstrated across Ukraine in rival rallies that degenerated into street fights in some cities.

AFP/Getty Images - Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk will meet with President Obama this week, the White House announced on Sunday, March 9, 2014.

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KIEV, Ukraine — The head of Ukraine's new pro-Western government will meet with President Obama this week, the White House announced on Sunday as a defiant Russia took further steps to consolidate its hold on the Crimean peninsula.

The announcement of the meeting on Wednesday in Washington with Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk was made as pro-Russia forces extended their reach in Crimea, surrounding a border post in the far west and blocking Ukrainian TV broadcasts to the heavily Russian-speaking region, which lies more than 400 miles southeast of the Ukrainian capital. There were reports of more troop movements into Crimea, with officials in Kiev estimating that 18,000 pro-Russian forces had fanned out across the region, which is about the size of Massachusetts.

A whirlwind of diplomacy continued on Sunday — with Russian President Vladimir Putin speaking to German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron — but there was no sign that Putin was willing to budge.

The Yatsenyuk visit was announced on Sunday by Tony Blinken, Obama's deputy national security adviser.

“What we've seen is the president mobilizing the international community in support of Ukraine to isolate Russia for its actions in Ukraine, and to reassure our allies and partners,” Blinken said on NBC's “Meet the Press.”

Raising concerns of unrest beyond Crimea, local news media and Russia's Interfax news agency reported that hundreds of activists brandishing Russian flags had broken into a government building in the eastern Ukrainian city of Luhansk.

They reportedly forced the mayor to write a resignation letter and raised the Russian flag over the building.

The incursion occurred two days after a similar protest in the eastern city of Donetsk was halted by officials loyal to the new government in Kiev.

Crimea remained the core of concern. According to a spokeswoman for the Ukrainian coast guard, most Ukrainian broadcasts were jammed beginning midafternoon on Sunday. The only Ukrainian TV programming that could be seen by a reporter in Sevastopol was on two channels: one showing movies and the other soccer.

Sevastopol, home of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, was awash in Russian flags as the rest of Ukraine was celebrating the 200th birthday of national hero and poet Taras Shevchenko. Matrons walking down the street in woolen coats and sensible shoes had Russian flag ribbons tied to the straps of their purses. Children skated while wearing armbands with the tricolor stripes of the Russian flag.

Some of those who tried to show their Ukrainian pride paid a price. Several people at a pro-Ukraine rally were beaten by pro-Russia activists holding a rival gathering, said Dima Belotserkovets, a pro-Ukraine activist.

He said he and others were kicked and punched until police eventually rescued them. Ten pro-Ukraine activists were detained but later released, he said.

At least one pro-Ukraine activist was still in the hospital, and one was unaccounted for, Belotserkovets said.

Putin defends vote

Russia held out a financial carrot to Crimea, offering $1.1 billion in support if the peninsula voted in favor of joining Russia in a March 16 referendum. That vote was called by pro-Russia lawmakers who seized control of Crimea's parliament on Feb. 27.

In a call with Putin, Merkel called the planned referendum “illegal” and urged Putin to de-escalate the situation, according to a German government spokesman.

Blinken, Obama's adviser, said that if the vote favors annexing Crimea to Russia, “we won't recognize it, and most of the world won't either.”

Putin also spoke with Cameron, who continued a push for the Russian leader to support a contact group that could arrange direct talks between him and the new government in Kiev, according to a spokeswoman at the British prime minister's office.

But the Kremlin's news service said Putin stressed that “the steps being taken by the legitimate Crimean authorities are based on international law and aim to protect the legitimate interests of the population of the Crimea.”

There were no reports of shots fired when Russian forces encircled the Chernomorskoye border post in western Crimea, but about 30 Ukrainian personnel were trapped inside, according to the Reuters news agency and Ukrainian television. It was the 11th Ukrainian base to be surrounded by Russian forces since they moved into the region on Feb. 28.

Tension at military bases

On Sunday, Ukrainian military bases around Sevastopol were tense but largely quiet, with commanders saying they were trying to avoid responding to provocations.

At one isolated base a half-hour outside Sevastopol, a sign taped to the gate read, “Thank you for staying faithful to your oath.” Outside the gate, a half dozen men in uniforms — part of the pro-Russia “self-defense forces” — milled around.

“They say they are here to defend us from ‘terrorist attacks,' ” said Col. Andrei Ivanchenko, the Ukrainian base commander, using his fingers to draw air quotes around the words. “They don't talk to us. But they are peaceful.”

Ivanchenko said the self-defense units report to a commander in the Russian military, a colonel who had come to the base four days earlier and told the Ukrainians to disarm.

The base had been receiving food and calls of support from civilians, he said. Pointing to a Ukrainian flag flying on a pole at the base entrance, he said morale among those inside was “as high as that banner.”

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